ALBUM // Get A Life – Our Band Could Be Your Life

Post by Misha

At 28 years of age I finally have a bar where I know all the bartenders, which feels like something you should have by the time you’re 28. It’s this dimly lit little hipster spot down the street from my apartment where the bartender is named Jack and he always wears Hawaiian shirts and lets me buy wine by the half glass when I’m broke or trying to be ~responsible~.

So last night I wandered in and was sitting at the bar sampling a new drink recipe that Jack was trying out (something involving strawberries and caraway seeds) when he put an unappealing shrivelly brownish thing on the bar in front of me. It was about the size of a raspberry, and appeared to be a little furry. He called it a ‘buzz button’ (which sounds fake or like a sex thing but I assure you it is not). Regardless, it didn’t look like the kind of item you want to eat, but Jack has never steered me wrong.

It’s hard to describe exactly what happened when I bit into this thing. It was bitter, and hot but not spicy; the texture was soft and a little mealy, sort of hard to chew. I was trying unsuccessfully to nail down the flavor, and then my entire mouth bloomed. The roof of my mouth felt like a fireworks show. Like someone opened a pop rocks factory on my tongue. I tried drinking some water and it was like consuming a cloud.

This invisible magic show went on for about 10 minutes. It was fizzy, then sweet, then sour, then fiery, then pillowy, and then the whole thing evaporated back into nothingness as quickly as it had come on.

I tell this story because the disorientation of the buzz button is often what I’m looking for in music. Something neither entirely pleasant or unpleasant, but confusing and wild. Loud, soft, big, small, tape fuzz, digital clipping, a giant sense of the unknown. Our Band Could Be Your Life is that kinda music. Even the name – “our band could be your life” – what? What does that mean? Is it ominous? Is it funny? I dunno but I like it.

The whole album from front to back is a delightful head scratcher, full of scuzzy punk riffs floating up in the clouds alongside sugary pop melodies, the whole thing threatening to come crashing to the ground at any moment. It never does, though. (Or if it does you’re having too much fun to care.)

The album is out today! Stream it! Buy it! Find a buzz button and eat it!

Our Band Could Be Your Life is the debut album from Get A Life, the project of Chase DeMaster (who also runs the label Very Jazzed) with production help from The Shins’ Yukki Matthews. Buy the album here via Forged Artifacts.